Written by: Angel Tran, UC Riverside
Over the past 30 years, American Axle & Manufacturing (AAM) has delivered power that moves the world, earning a reputable stance as the number one leading global Tier 1 Automotive and Mobility Supplier. AAM specializes in metal-forming business units that represent the largest forging enterprise in the world. Their products offer transmission, driveline, engine, and safety-critical components for electric vehicles, which includes light-duty vehicles and commercial vehicles. With their global reach and resources, their leading team of industry experts strive to deliver unmatched quality to their customers.
Headquartered in Detroit with over 80 facilities in 18 countries, AAM has a theme of #BringingTheFutureFaster through fostering a safer and more sustainable tomorrow. As EcoCAR’s Visionary sponsor, AAM has supported several teams tremendously through their automotive products, mentorship, hosting workshops, and technical services.
Since its debut on March 1, 1994, AAM has grown from five former General Motors (GM) facilities into a multi-billion-dollar global company, becoming one of the most respected Tier 1 automotive suppliers in the world. Its global footprint spans over 80 locations across four continents—North America, South America, Asia, and Europe. This reach enables AAM to bring next-generation driveline and metal-forming products and technologies to market faster and more efficiently, reducing vehicle development costs while maintaining exceptional quality.
For the UC Riverside EcoCAR team, AAM’s contribution has been significant. Notable products such as their state-of-the-art Electric Drive Unit (EDU) have provided essential propulsion capabilities for the team’s electric vehicle development.
“Using AAM products has been a great experience so far,” says Emmanuel Gonzalez, Lead of the UCR EcoCAR CAV team. “The AAM EDU comes with detailed documentation that allowed for a fairly smooth setup.”
A particularly useful feature of their EDU is its interactive app, which plays an important role in ensuring that the overall propulsion system operates correctly. The EDU’s intuitive app can also be used to control the output torque. There is a certain sequence that needs to be followed for an EDU to produce any torque. “This tool has helped us pinpoint the sequence correctly while looking for potential errors within our knowledge”, says Emmanuel. Not only did this feature accelerate the team’s progress, but also reduced potential roadblocks, making the EDU an easy component to work with in the development process.
Through AAM’s robust design and user-friendly resources, #TeamAAM has been contributing to the UC Riverside EcoCAR team’s success. By continuously investing in cutting-edge technologies to manufacture their products, AAM is empowering the next generation of engineers to create sustainable solutions for the future.
